Numbershot 22: Infernal Flames
by Forestfleet
Summary: Sequel to Numbershot 66. After Ariel's incident, Shark becomes unreliable, and with a crazed murderer on the loose, only Kaito, Jenaveve, and Spade can put a stop to them and find a mysterious Number. However, could this mission just be their deadliest one yet? Written with permission from VileEXE, my second Numbershot in total.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: Probably didn't expect me to get this story up so quickly. Anyway, it's my birthday, so yeah. The one who writes a review for either Numbershot 66 or 22 will forever hold my favor.

The first couple of chapters won't be containing a duel, so these next few chapters will probably be pretty easy for me to write out.

* * *

><p>Shark looked at Ariel who was in bed. A hospital bed more precisely. Multiple IVs were in her, supplying necessary life support while she slept. Shark, meanwhile, sat in a chair, looking directly at her. He was questioning many things. All he knew now was that she might've been a killer. He knew she was out of it those past few days, but he didn't expect her to snap quite like that.<p>

Suddenly, a purple crow alighted upon a tree branch before looking through the window. Truth be told, Yata-Garasu was rather displeased at the fact they were left behind by the others, but at least they found them. Yata-Garasu began tapping on the window with their beak, trying to grab someone's attention.

However, entering the room was Kaito. "Shark," Kaito said, "it's time to go now. We found another Number."

Shark said, "Go on without me..."

"You can't let what happened with Ariel affect you. It's not good-"

"LEAVE!" Shark shouted.

Kaito frowned. Still, he couldn't force Shark into anything. If he wanted to be a liability, that was his own problem. After a few seconds of debating, Kaito said, "Very well then." He then turned to walk away.

* * *

><p>"The Kestrel Plane? Really? Of all the made-up words I've heard..." The teenager shook his head.<p>

"Look, I swear it's true, really!" The man pleaded, staring at the barrel of the gun in front of his face.

"I already know the place your boss hails from is the Barian World!"

"Then... then why did you ask?"

"To see if you would actually tell me the truth about certain things. Now who can I turn to to learn more about the twin chaoses of the Astral World?"

"Whoever! Just please don't kill me!" The man begged.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, but you're not worthy of having me kill you! That will be Nanius' job!"

"Who's Nanius?" The man whimpered.

The teenage boy smirked and chuckled.

"Behind you."

The man stood up and looked behind himself. Then there was a bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

><p>The news was on and Akari was listening intently in on what was happening.<p>

"Apparently, a man was defenestrated and ripped limb from limb. We don't know who did it, and police so far have no leads. Seven deaths have occurred this week alone. The only pattern found was that they all had a business card that had N.D. imprinted on it," The news broadcaster said.

"N.D.? Number Distributor?" Kotori asked.

"Maybe they're an ally if that's the case," Astral said.

Kotori shook her head. "Even if they are an ally, they're the worst kind of ally."

Spade smirked. "I bet you I can easily found out who did this and bring them to justice!"

"And get yourself killed!?" Akari asked. "Not gonna happen!"

"Relax, babe. For one, I don't associate with 'N.D.', and for two, I bet this guy can't match my speed!"

"Spade!" Akari said. "This is dangerous!"

"And day-to-day life isn't?" Spade pointed out. "Think about it, the Number Distributor's probably much more dangerous than any other madman we meet frequently. Also, I have to keep you safe. And I need to check this guy out. If he's hunting for N.D. members, he might have something to do with the Numbers."

"We're not even sure if N.D. has anything to do with the Number Distributor, or if it's just a coincidence," Kaito pointed out. "If you get killed, it might be for nothing."

Spade shook his head. "Think about it; what other things are in our life that have the initials N.D. on them? Plus, if you look closely at the sites on the reports _they're all locations we've met the Distributor before_."

That took the others by surprise as they thought about it. Plus they couldn't think of any nearby companies with the name of N.D. nearby.

"Fine." Akari sighed. "But if you get in trouble, a crazy murderer will be the _least_ of your worries."

"Don't worry, everything's going to be alright," Spade assured her.

"Come with Jen and I. Both of us are going to a site where we believe there is a Number. We'll be much safer in a group, and if this guy really does have something to do with the Numbers, we'll find him there."

Yuma asked, "Even if you guys know where a Number is, would the other guy?"

Kaito nodded. "The presence of this particular is much stronger than I thought was possible. Even rudimentary Number tracking systems would probably be very good at finding it."

"Alright, let's find this scumbag and bring him to justice!" Spade said with a cocky grin.

Jenaveve said, "Let's be careful this time." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Yuma said, "I'm coming along too!"

"No you're not!" Akari said. "I already have a chance of losing Spade! I don't want to lose you too!"

Yuma opened his mouth in protest, only for Kaito to say, "Don't worry, Yuma, we'll handle this."

"And what about Shark?" Kotori asked.

Kaito shook his head with a frown. "He's still in the hospital with Ariel. Rio's too busy with other things right now, and you better believe I'm not letting Haruto anywhere near something like this."

"Alright then. Just you, Jen, and me," Spade said with a nod.

"The sooner we get this done, the better," Jenaveve said. The group of three nodded before they walked (or ran) off.

* * *

><p>The murderer sighed as he looked around the warehouse. "This Number's energy signature is just so powerful. Do you agree, Nanius?" He got no response, making him whip his head around. "Nanius? Nanius?" He grunted. "Random disappearances. Not a good sign, ever." Suddenly, his eyes widened. Quickly, he walked towards a window and looked down. Approaching the warehouse were three people. Each, he sensed, had lots of Numbers...<p>

* * *

><p>Author's notes: So yeah, this Numbershot might be slightly darker than my last one, but it will probably also be funnier, rest assured. I think this Numbershot as a whole will probably be much more full of twists than Numbershot 66 was. Note, the first scene will be much more important later on than it is right now.<p>

Also, sorry this chapter's so short. It has a lot of set-up.

If you want to know how to pronounce Nanius, it's Nan (like nanny) then there's a long e sound, then finally it ends with "us" like the word. So Nan-e-us.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: Unfortunately, these chapters didn't come earlier. However, I still consider it a Christmas fic of sorts due to its timing and place.

Anyway, thank you reviewers for your reviews, I hope this chapter pleases you as well.

* * *

><p>The woman entered the warehouse, looking around the place which was abandoned by practically everything except rats.<p>

An intensely powerful Number signal emanated from the place. Suddenly, a man behind her said with a smirk, "So, another Numbers holder. Well, I can't wait to take your Numbers!"

The woman turned around. A red Number 22 blazed on her neck. The man held up a card that glowed blue. On his forehead was the number "97".

"You hold my master's Number- or at least a fragment of it," she said. "I will not end up like Goldnarch! I will crush you!"

"I don't know who Goldnarch or who your boss is, but they've got nothing on me!" The numbers holder said. They both activated their duel disks.

"Duel!" they both shouted.

* * *

><p>"I don't trust this place, Kaito," Jenaveve said. Each creeping shadow behind every box contained a monster - or, at least, it did in her mind which feared for the worse at around every corner. At some points she had to do a double take to assure herself there was nothing in the darkness. The dark couldn't hurt her, could it?<p>

Spade, however, sauntered around as if the place was as clear as day. "Oh, nothing bad's here probably. Just a number, a murderer-"

"Spade!" Kaito shouted. "Not helping!"

Spade chuckled. "Fine, fine, I'll stop..." A little while later, Spade asked, "Uh, guys, did you hear something?"

"Nice try, Spade." Jenaveve rolled her eyes.

Spade's face creased with worry. "No, I mean it, did you guys hear something?"

Kaito shrugged. "Not really."

"Listen closer," Spade said. They did and they all began hearing thumping and footsteps above their heads.

Everyone's eyes widened. "Guys, keep quiet," Kaito whispered. "Also, keep low and hidden. If I say run, then run and don't stop for anything."

"I wouldn't stop in the first place," Spade said. However, he made no cocky remarks. Then he squinted at the shadows behind an abnormally large crate. He could've sworn the shadows were actually moving. Something had to have been moving.

"Guys, what's that?" Spade asked, pointed towards the shadows.

"Maybe they're just flies," Jenaveve said, hoping she was right.

However, the flies suddenly started coming together and forming a shape. Roughly, it became the outline of a human. The trio was paralyzed with fear, even Spade, before Kaito suddenly shouted, "Run!"

The three all took off in different directions. Spade went back to where they came from, while Kaito went left and Jenaveve went right. Obviously, they never learned why not to split up.

Jenaveve looked back and noticed she was being followed, but not by a human anymore. It was a wolf constructed by the flies. Dark aura escaped its general outline. The wolf was made mostly of shadows. Jenaveve gasped. She couldn't outrun a wolf!

Kaito's situation looked the brightest. Right now he was the only one in the clear. Spade, however, halted when he found himself in an alien area of the place, not that most of it wasn't unknown, but still.

Before him was a duel, and he saw Armageddon Knight being absolutely consumed by flames due to an attack from a being made entirely of fire. He watched as the other person's life points went from three-hundred all the way down to zero.

Lois: *Win*

Arthur: 0

"And I won with 2200 life points. How disgraceful! Nearly half of my life points taken off by this idiot!" A blue rectangular object shot out of the fallen person's chest. Spade recognized it as one-fifth of a card. Another fifth of a glowing blue card shot out of Lois' chest before they both combined into a card that was a little under half a card, or more precisely two-fifths of a card.

Spade mustered up his courage once again before raising his voice and asking Lois, "Are you the murderer!?"

Lois' attention suddenly snapped toward him. She shook her head with a sigh. "Making accusations like that isn't good. Lying is incredibly easy anyway, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Spade said with a grunt.

"Whatever, kid," Lois said while rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I can sense you have Numbers on you. I want them."

"Then come and get them!" Spade said before activating his duel disk.

The woman didn't even need to activate hers again. She simple stared at him dispassionately, with a slightly annoyed look discernible on her visage. It was as if all Spade was was a fly to her - and he practically was just that.

"Duel!" they both shouted.

* * *

><p>Jenaveve found herself at a dead end. However, when she turned back around she saw thugs, not a wolf. Each were dressed in black. Each stood shoulder to shoulder, none diminutive compared to the other, none slimmer or fatter compared to the other.<p>

"What's she doing around here?" The one on Jenaveve's left asked.

The one on her right shrugged. "I dunno. Might be trouble for our leader though. The direct one, not the Distributor. In fact, yeah, I think I recognize her from that picture N.D. showed us."

"Think she's the one picking our group off one by one?" the one on the left asked.

The one of the right shrugged. "She doesn't look the part, but looks can be deceiving. We have to make sure she doesn't get that Number fragment though." Then, they both raised a pistol up, only for a shadowy force to attack the one on the left.

"ARGGH!" he shouted as a dark aura enveloped him. He was suddenly thrown over a massive crate. What neither of them knew was that someone else heard the commotion. The second one looked back at Jenaveve, only for a yellow laser beam to hit his gun and knock it out of his hand. He gawked and Jenaveve looked behind her to see a teenage boy with very curly dark hair that cascaded down his head. He had sinister dark brown eyes, along with tan skin. His smirk reached from ear to ear.

"Who are you?" Jenaveve asked.

"Are you the one behind the murders!?" demanded the thug.

He sighed. "Now, now, be less vague. Which murders?"

The thug said, "Don't act dumb!"

"I know not to do that. That's your job. I don't want to leave you homeless." With a shrug he then said, "If it's about your stupid little club with its idiotic leader the Number Distributor, then yes, I might have something to do with that."

"GUYS! I FOUND THE KILLER! GET HIM!"

The teenager grunted before pointing a gun at the man. It was white with a blue streak along its sides. The gun had a long barrel. When it was fired it shot out a yellow beam which collided with the man's face, knocking him back into a crate.

"Laser gun! Who'd use regular?" The murderer asked like he was advertising. He then looked at Jenaveve. "I suppose we should run now." He then jumped up and climbed up a massive crate before putting his hand over the ledge so Jenaveve could grab it. Since she had no other choice, she grabbed his hand and he hoisted her up. They both then began running.

"Who are you!?" Jenaveve asked as they leaped off a crate and began running among a maze of crates.

Obviously, he couldn't reveal his real name, so he simply said, "I'm Nasch." Like anybody saw that guy in the past few years...

"I'm Jenaveve!" Jenaveve said.

"Oh, nice to meet you," Nasch said while they ran.

"Same," Jenaveve quickly replied. She then blinked.

"AM I ACTUALLY RUNNING WITH A KILLER!?"

* * *

><p>Kaito was sitting down, his back to a create. His legs were outstretched while his hands rested on his kneecaps. He took intense breaths, trying to oxygenate himself from all the running he had to do.<p>

Thoughts of worry and despair ran through his head. What if Jenaveve was in trouble? What if the Number Holder found her? What if... what if...?

He found himself sickened by the repugnant thoughts. However, the most blatant and powerful one he felt was shame. Shame that he couldn't protect his team. Shame that he ran away. Shame the he panicked. He, one of the calmest members of the number hunting group, actually lost his cool disposition.

With a grunt, he mustered the strength to pick himself back up again. He reaped souls. He hunted numbers. And first and foremost: He protected those who he loved. And protect them he would.

He stumbled forward for a few seconds before managing to obtain a natural posture fit for walking. He kept himself expressionless. Despite the thumping in his heart, he wasn't going to admit he was afraid. He couldn't afford to be. He never was able to.

And so with that, the search for Jenaveve began.

* * *

><p>Spade didn't suffer from any dark feelings. He wasn't undergoing any emotional turmoil. However, he was going through a chaotic duel right now.<p>

Spade: 2200

Lois: 3800

His Number stood guard in front of him. It possessed no overlay units, all having been removed due to Overlay Capture. He had no Set cards. On Lois' field was a flaming beast that was roughly in the shape of a bird.

"Number 22, attack," Lois said calmly. Flames rushed forwards onto Spade's field, consuming his number. Spade shielded himself from the blast with his arms. However, the attack knocked him off his feet.

"Bird Tamer Scarlet, attack directly."

Spade couldn't argue. He felt a burning sensation all around his body. How could he have lost like this!? It was the most disappointing loss he ever had to endure. His only hopes were that someone could avenge him.

Spade: 0

Then there was the sound of footsteps coming from nearby. Spade stopped focusing on his defeat, and tilted his head back so he could see who was approaching.

Lois stared into the darkness. She could make out a silhouette. Her eyebrows then wrinkled. Was that a second person?

And indeed it was. The small amount of illumination from the solitary window she was at gave enough light to make out the features of the two. Both contrasted each other. While one of them, a girl, was fair-skinned with green eyes and hair as pink as salmon's insides, the other was dark-eyed, tan-skinned, and he had dark curly hair. The girl's hair was well-kept, with four bangs hanging down her head, with two antennae-like hairs sloping down her back. The boy, on the other hand, had unclean hair that looked like he just came out of bed and didn't know hair hygiene existed. However, the main difference were there expressions. While the boy seemed fairly neutral and even relaxed, the girl looked thoroughly afraid.

Spade's pupils dilated. "Jenaveve!" he shouted. "And some other guy!"

Nasch then took notice of the boy on the floor. His eyebrows curved while he examined the fallen person. "Hm, a downed low-intelligence Earth hatchling..." Nasch then leaned his head up to stare at Lois. "You've been cleaning up," he noted.

"Let me guess; you two are his friends." She pointed down at Spade and awaited confirmation, only for Nasch to shake his head.

"No, no, he's not my friend. Feel free to shoot him or something, I wouldn't mind at all," Nasch casually said.

Jenaveve, however, was flabbergasted at what Nasch said. Her jaw dropped nearly to the floor before she yelled, "Nasch! That's my friend!"

"Well he's not mine!" Nasch shouted with a hint of exasperation. "You bloody cattle keep together like an uncivilized lot, then you wonder where the rest of your herd is after a stampede!"

Jenaveve was about to protest at his criticisms, until she thought about the cattle insult and took it to heart slightly. "Did you just call me a cow?" she asked.

He nodded energetically. "Yes! I did! I'm glad you can hear! You keep having your mouth open as if you're chewing your cud! I did hypothesize at one point that perhaps you just liked hearing yourself speak, but NO ONE would want to hear your voice for more than two seconds!"

Her jaw dropped again from indignation. She then picked it up and was about to say something, only for a finger to be pressed to her lips. Nasch then told her, "Nope! Nope! Shut-up! Shut-up! I care not to hear your voice again."

Lois felt irritated. "Look, what is it you two want? I've got numbers to hunt, you know."

Nasch's eyes widened. Jenaveve watched as the boy's eyes dilated. Suddenly, Jenaveve felt herself shoved to the side before there was a yellow beam that shot into the darkness. When it made contact with someone, there was a yell. Nasch was holding that same laser gun. He entered the darkness.

Jenaveve, Spade, and Lois all waited to hear what was going to happen next, only for the sound of puncturing and gurgling to fill the air. Then, ringing through the darkness was Nasch's voice. "Assassins! No respect for their victims! Gotta stop sneaking up, I swear."

Deathly silence filled the air again before the teenager walked out of the darkness with a bright smile. Not a sadistic one, but almost as if he just had a pleasant day. Nothing to bright or cheerful, but still bright enough to leave a radiant expression beaming on his face. There was some blood on his wrist and hand, but he ignored that.

Everybody else began blinking.

Spade asked, "...Did that just happen?"

Jenaveve blinked a few more times. She then shook her head and said, "Let's not think about that." Then, Nasch interrupted.

"So, I propose a duel. I want to take your numbers, crush the lesser insects, conquer the world, and get myself a lifetime supply of olives. This talking, while stupid, should not interrupt something as important as say a game of duel monsters." Nasch activated his duel disk. "I want this to be a three-way - get your minds out of the gutter, we are not staging a weird orgy here - between I, the girl, and the other girl with the numbers who is actually important. The girl and I share a general field, but we have separate life points. Other chick possesses 8000." He then pointed to Spade, "And you! You're important as well!"

"What do I do?" Spade asked.

"Pick up the Pokemon TCG. You'll probably be less of a noob at that."

Spade's face fell. Then it contorted in pain as silver cards flew out of his chest and into Lois' hand. She stared at the collection with little interest before pocketing them.

"The boy has nothing of concern. Maybe you'll be different. I accept."

The mechanical sound of three duel disk occurred while everyone activated theirs.

"Duel!"

Lois: 8000

Nasch: 4000

Jenaveve: 4000

Jenaveve looked at Nasch. "Alright, we'll need to cooperate on this to stay alive."

Nasch nodded. "Glad we agree. You'll be useful for Tribute fodder."

Jenaveve's expression changed once more to one of disbelief. Her mouth hung agape. Then, Nasch said another line.

"Close your mouth, you're going to swallow a fly at this rate, I mean, Jesus!"

* * *

><p>Author's notes: Get used to "Nasch". He's going to be around here for a while.<p>

Also, I didn't notice the contrast between the team players until I looked at Jenaveve's description on YCM Wiki and realized she was mostly a contrast to my character.

So, um yeah. Enjoy.


End file.
